Page:Castes and tribes of southern India, Volume 5.djvu/502

PADMA SALE that the Padma Sālēs took away the body of the goddess Chaudēswari, leaving them the head. Three kinds of beggars are attached to the Padma Sālēs, viz., Sādhana Sūrulu, Padiga Rājulu or Koonapilli vāndlu, and Inaka-mukku Bhatrāzus. Concerning the Sādhana Sūrulu, Buchanan writes as follows.* "The Vaishnavite section of the Samay Sale is called Padma Sālē. The whole Shalay formerly wore the linga, but, a house having been possessed by a devil, and this sect having been called on to cast him out, all their prayers were of no avail. At length ten persons, having thrown aside their linga, and offered up their supplications to Vishnu, they succeeded in expelling the enemy, and ever afterwards they followed the worship of this god, in which they have been initiated by their brethren. The descendants of these men, who are called Sadana Asholu (Sādana Sūrulu), or the celebrated heroes, never work, and, having dedicated themselves to god, live upon the charity of the industrious part of the caste, with whom they disdain to marry."

The Padiga Rājulu are supposed to be the descendants of three persons, Adigadu, Padigadu and Baludu, who sprang from the sweat of Bhavana Rishi, and the following legend is current concerning the origin of the Padma Sālēs and Padiga Rājulu. At the creation of the world, men were naked, and one Markandēya, who was sixteen years old, was asked to weave cloths. To enable him to do so, he did thapas (penance), and from the sacred fire arose Bhāvana Rishi, bearing a bundle of thread obtained from the lotus which sprang from Vishnu's navel. Bhāvana Rishi made cloths, and presented them to the Dēvatas, and offered a cloth to Bhairava also.